The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 827

Chapter 827

Watching the tide bugs crawl over the capsule made Nicole’s skin crawl. With each new horror, humanity’s chances of surviving seemed a little slimmer. 1

The bugs swarmed over the shell for another 15 minutes. Whether the aerospace-grade material held no appeal or simply proved too hard to bite through, they finally gave up and left.

As they cleared the window, Nicole could see outside again.

The fishing boat floated nearby. The swarm retreated as quickly as it arrived, pouring down the hull in a dense black mass and disappearing beneath the surface.

Nicolle waited another 15 minutes. Only when she was sure the bugs were gone did she open the hatch.

The sea breeze barely carried a trace of the stench. In that short time, the swarm apparently consumed almost all the decomposing bodies aboard.

Her stomach turned.

With the fishing boat so close, Nicole remembered the radiation protection suits she asked Marcus to find back when they lived at the villa complex. After getting those, she also asked Sven to track down radiation detection equipment.

She pretended to search a storage compartment and pulled a radiation detector from her space. Then she extended the probe toward the fishing boat.

The reading showed no elevated radiation where they were. For now, at least, they seemed to be safe.

Curious about what remained aboard, Nicole and Zeph decided to investigate.

They got Poppy and Cola into protective gear along with themselves, then climbed onto the fishing boat with some difficulty.

The bodies on deck were gone. Only scattered bone fragments remained.

The insects apparently chewed through bone as easily as flesh.

Nicole fought back nausea as she checked the deck and the boat’s interior with the detector. It still showed nothing unusual.

Unconvinced, she swept the bone fragments on deck into a pile and held the probe close.

This time, the reading rose.

The remains were radioactive, To Nicole, that lent weight to her suspicion that the Ardelonians consumed contaminated water.

Fortunately, the reading was low, which eased her concern about a brief visit.

Meanwhile, Zeph inspected the wheelhouse and found the boat still operational.

“Why don’t we clean it up and keep it?”

Neither of them knew how to operate the cruise ship, and they only had one yacht. If it ever broke down,

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they would need another option.

Zeph knew how to handle a fishing boat. With conditions getting worse and replacement vessels nearly impossible to find, a backup was worth keeping.

Nicole still recoiled at the thought of using it. “We’ll have to scrub every inch of it.”

They would start with insecticide and a thorough rinse, then clean it several times with disinfectant.

Zeph readily agreed and got to work.

Nicole couldn’t shake the image of the tide bugs feeding on corpses. Still worried about Poppy’s bite, she took immune globulin from her bag and gave her an injection, hoping it would offer some protection.

Guilt weighed on her. “Poppy, please don’t do that again. If something’s dangerous, stay away from it.”

Zeph adored his little sister. If anything happened to her, it would destroy him.

“Don’t worry, Nicole. It’s just a little bite. I’ll be fine.”

Poppy smiled, still trying to reassure her.

“You’ve taken care of me for years. You’re always protecting me. I just wanted to get that bug off you. Besides, you were only out there because you were keeping them away from us. We all could’ve gotten bitten.

Nicole gave a helpless little smile. “Oh, sweetheart.”

Poppy hugged her. “I love you, Nicole. You’re like a mom to me.”

Being cast as the mother of Zeph’s little sister caught Nicole off guard, but the affection in Poppy’s voice

warmed her.

She gently pinched the girl’s cheek. “You always know just what to say, don’t you?”

Nicole gave her a few pieces of candy, then joined Zeph to spray down the boat and rinse it.

Poppy offered to help, but Nicole insisted she rest. After thoroughly cleaning her and Cola, Nicole settled them in the escape capsule.